


Tipping Points

by CmonCmon



Series: Raising Warriors [10]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Battle of Kamino, Clone Mom and Clone Dad, F/M, M/M, Rancor Feels, Soft Wars, Star Wars AU - Soft Wars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:33:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25907386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CmonCmon/pseuds/CmonCmon
Summary: The pivotal moments of the Third Battle of Kamino, and how everything turned out okay.
Relationships: Blitz/Original Clone Character, Colt (Star Wars)/Shaak Ti
Series: Raising Warriors [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1835518
Comments: 53
Kudos: 337
Collections: Open Source Soft Wars





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Project0506](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/gifts), [Primarybufferpanel (ArwenLune)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwenLune/gifts).



> Read Projie's Soft Wars and big cheers for PBP and Jac with a secret AO3 for helping shape everything in this series!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Rancor Battalion fights the Battle of Kamino

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally going to be one huge chapter, but I'm traveling so please don't mind that it's coming in two parts.
> 
> As always, read Soft Wars and cheers for PBP and Jac with a secret AO3 for helping shape everything in this series!

“When it all started, you couldn’t do your job without falling over a commander or a Jedi. Karking Marshal Commander Cody, Commander Colt, and Captain Rex, and then we had Skywalker and Kenobi in addition to our own General. Like it’s a poker game and I’m holding a planetary system.” Web leans in closer, and the other troopers do the same. Everyone fought the same battle, but not everyone was in a room with three Jedi and some of the most revered officers in the GAR.

“Skywalker’s gone in a blink. Space battle, that’s his deal, right?” The others nod, piled together on the bunk. “He and Kenobi start sniping over open comms right in the middle of the dogfights, and I see Commander Cody looking over at Captain Rex like ‘can you believe this osik.’ ‘cause they do this every day.”

“What’s Colt doing? The General?” One of them asks, because he’s still using his damn brain.

“What they’re supposed to be, of course. Colt’s locking down the barracks to keep the littles where they need to be, and General Ti is watching the holos trying to track the enemy.”

All of the troopers nod. They wouldn’t expect anything else.

“Next Kenobi goes.” Web holds up both hands to halt any comments. “Just Kenobi. Leaves Commander Cody standing there. Commander Cody who looks ready to strangle him because his General’s big idea is to take one of the little Kamino-teh limmie ball ships to go explore. Alone.”

Web nods at the grimaces on all of his brothers’ faces. “Exactly.” 

That was the whole point of having troopers. So a General could send someone to scout. Rancor, they knew how these things went. A smart General who did her job and didn’t go haring off, a Commander who did his job and wouldn’t  _ let _ his General wind up in a one-seat craft behind enemy lines at the bottom of the karking ocean of Kamino, and troopers who could do what they were needed to do. _ Simple. _

“What do the commanders do?”

“Real question is, what does the General do?” Web gives the trooper a stern look. “She stays in the Command Center where we needed her. Tracks the space battle  _ and _ the assault ships because someone has to give the orders. Karking battalion has to get their orders from somewhere, don’t they?” The troopers nod sagely. “The Commander, along with the Marshal Commander and the Captain put together the plan -- protect the points of entry, reinforce the barracks, protect the lab.” Web claps his hands. “Textbook.” 

“Not that easy though,” he explains, and his brothers’ shoulders sink like they hadn’t just  _ fought the battle. _ “Skywalker and Kenobi go for the labs. The Commanders and the Captain to cut off the seps to the barracks. You know what that leaves? Our General, running the show in the Command Center with a handful of Rancor men.”

_ Isn’t that just the way? _

“And she  _ is _ running the show. Space battle’s off the holotable, now it’s three battles, the assault ships loading in clankers in the hangar bay, the ones already inside headed for the barracks, and  _ their  _ COs headed for the labs. And she does it, ‘cause she’s that good.”

Firm nods of agreement and muttered  _ Oya _ all around.

“Until.” The mutters stop. “Five aqua droids try to overrun the Command Center.” Web allows himself a slow, blossoming grin. “Blast doors open, and the five droids are stomping towards us, blasterfire everywhere and we’re set to return fire, but the General doesn’t even need me or the other troopers. Cuts the hand off one with her lightsaber, _ shoves it through the sensors of the droid next to it _ , and chops them both into scrap.”

“And the other three?” The men must have already heard this part. They were already grinning too. 

“Picks two of them up  _ with her mind _ , and smashes them into the third one. Bam! Looks like a karking speeder crash. Then, she turns to me and the guys like she hasn’t just taken out a whole line of them and says, like she’s on a routine walkthrough, ‘Troopers, we will push back the enemy.’”

A few of them men sigh. Maybe Web does too. 

_ And then she did exactly that. _

*

Ottoo could have stayed in his bunk, like the cadets were told to.

But, General Shaak had told him that the things he felt were for a reason, so he listened to that instead. It had only told him to go to a different set of bunks, not to do anything bad or get himself in trouble. So, he followed that feeling all the way to the Third Cycle bunks. Which were full of so many important vode.

He knew he was okay when he saw 99. The vod took care of all the littles. Even the ones who were a little different, like Ottoo. Especially the ones who were a little different. 

The others were all soldiers in their armor. Ottoo didn’t know all of them, but he knew Commander Cody. He wasn’t decanted  _ yesterday _ . Every cadet knew Commander Cody. 

All of the others were in armor with blue on it. Ottoo didn’t know them, but he knew a vod was a good soldier if he had paint on his armor, like Commander Colt and Rancor.

He liked these troopers. Especially the one with the angry eyes on his helmet. He  _ felt _ safe, just like Commander Cody.

They were talking to 99, worried about the droids, but Ottoo wasn’t any good at making the worry go away. All the troopers and even some of the Thirds were prepared. He stayed out of the way, at the end of the short hallways connecting the main corridor to the bunk rooms.

Ottoo would help, too.

There were blasters firing and troopers running. Ottoo kept to the far end of the rows of bunkrooms. He wouldn’t get in the way, but he wanted to  _ see _ . When the detonators started booming, Ottoo moved closer. They were big booms, like the thunder of the storms. 

When 99 started running, Ottoo ran with him, down at the other ends of the rows of lockers. That feeling was back in Ottoo’s head, in the bottom of his tummy. The feeling he’d told General Shaak about and she’d told him was okay, but he shouldn’t tell anyone about unless she asked him to. 

That feeling was telling him he needed to stay with 99, and he’d listen to his feelings. Just like the General told him to do when she’d taught him to control the voices he heard.

A blaster shot hit 99 in the leg and he fell down. Ottoo had wanted to stay out of the fight so he wouldn’t be in the way, but he  _ knew _ he had to come closer. The feeling knew it too. 

He had to help 99 because 99 always helped the cadets. 

The vod got to his feet again, but Ottoo knew he was hurt, he could feel it. Ottoo knew this was bad. Even Commander Cody was shouting. 

Ottoo wouldn’t let 99 get hurt more. 

Ottoo saw the blaster bolts coming like everything was moving really slow, which didn’t make sense because blaster bolts were really fast. He knew they would hurt 99. 

But not if 99 moved out of the way. 

Everything in the room, everything on the planet, agreed with him. Ottoo reached out his hand like he could catch the vod’s sleeve from all the way down the short hallway, and could drag him to safety even if 99 was so much bigger than him.

99 pitched off-balance, the two blaster bolts hitting him as the world snapped back into rushing and shouting.

And then quiet. 

They’d fought all the droids and now it was quiet. 99 just lay there and Ottoo wasn’t sure if he’d done it wrong or the feeling had lied to him.

Five of the soldiers in blue went to check on 99.

“Hevy, is he--?”

“99? Vod?”

“Echo, comm a medic!”

Two of them lifted 99 between them. Ottoo saw the older clone turned and looked his way once before they carried him off to the med bay.

*

“All I’m saying is,” Pots dragged it out, poked at the bacta patch on his side, none too gently. “What kind of idiot lets it happen twice when he doesn’t have to?”

The kind of idiot who stopped in the middle of heavy fire to have a conversation instead of continuing to drag a wounded brother back behind cover. 

Things in the hanger had gotten bad pretty quick when giant droids had started spitting other droids through the giant holes they stabbed through the hangar walls. He had been doing the best he could. Havoc wouldn’t say that because this was not the moment for words like that. “I got distracted, okay?”

Tals lets out a snort. He’s only got the one patch left on his thigh, but it’s a big one.

“Shut it. I got you there!” Havoc threw a roll of bandaging in his general direction and winced. He’d taken the second shot high on the shoulder. Hard enough to knock him flat in the middle of ordering 99 to cover. That one was much slower to heal.

“You got me  _ halfway _ there.” Tals lobbed the bandaged back. “I had to wait for Trib and  _ karking 99 _ to haul  _ you _ off before anyone came to get  _ me _ .”

“You’re fine. And not the point,” Havoc dismissed the complaint. That was easy now. Rancor had seen a lot of death before coming to Kamino, but they had defended Kamino and taken very few casualties while doing it. They could celebrate this win. He turned his attention back to the medic. “Come on, Pots! Show me.”

Pots grumbled, but dragged the armor bin out from under the medical cot. With all appropriate theatrics, he pulled out Havoc’s chest piece and handed it over. 

“Kriff.” Even Havoc was stunned for a moment. 

The blaster marks on the side were nasty, but there was a hole he could put fingers through on the shoulder. “Just missed the karking pauldron.” Without thinking, he rolled his shoulder, just to make sure it was still there. “That’s going to be a pain in the shebs to fix.”

Havoc wasn’t even looking at him, but he could hear Pots roll his eyes. “Or requisition a new one you sithdamned empty bucket.”

_ As if. _ “Just think how many times I’m gonna tell this story!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is the rest of saving everyone. Anyone not saved in chapter 2 will be explained later, I promise, because this is karking Soft Wars and it will be soft gosh darn it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Rancor Battalion won the Third Battle of Kamino

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the super weird posting of both of these chapters. It was a posting night, and the evening did not go quite as planned.

If they thought they were simply going to stroll into his posting and take what they wanted, they had something else coming. 

Colt hadn’t been sent to Kamino for the  _ karking weather _ . He knew how to fortify a facility. He and Rancor had done a full security overhaul within their first month planetside.

Sure, he hadn’t taken the previously-unknown aquatic assault ships that could both punch through Kamino-teh storm-proofed engineering and then throw a new model of SBD at them into account, but they had plans.

Other than the surprises, things were playing out exactly like Colt had planned. 

The attacks started in the hangar - probably the only place the giant stabby droids knew they had enough room to drop their payload - and the enemies that made it past the entry point were heading for the two highest value targets - the barracks and the labs.

Colt didn’t know the other two Jedi beyond their formidable reputations. They bickered like family in a way Colt would have found much more amusing if his vod’ikase weren’t on the line, but Colt trusted them to do what they needed to in order to protect the mission. 

His own role was a simple one. Cut off as many paths to the barracks as he could. In planning sessions and sims, Colt would have Havoc or Hammer with him while Blitz led the defense in the hangar. Instead, both Havoc and Hammer had been sent with Blitz, and by the comms chatter, it’d been the right call.

One thing about clankers, they weren’t built stealthy. He flattened himself against the angle of the corridor. An open meeting of two wide hallways did not provide cover, any good route for escape, and allowed multiple vulnerable flanks.

But when General Grievous and a half-dozen B1s are marching towards his little brothers, Colt would do what he had to do.

Until he sees a flash of movement out of the corner of his visor. 

_ Karking Tech _ and the unmistakable oversized form of Wrecker. Which meant the third cadet in training armor was Crosshair. Colt waved them back to the barracks. 

Emphatically. 

Tech waved something back that was definitely not battlesign. Colt couldn’t concentrate on them. In moments, karking General Grievous was going to come down that hallways and Colt could only hope the cadets would have the good sense the Maker gave an eopie and they would fallback like they had been told.

Colt understood that his odds were poor. _ He’d made the damn plan. _

He had built the plan to hold Kamino, and he’d been given more troopers and a damn good set of officers to do it with. Cody and Rex were his backstops, and he couldn’t have asked for better. Colt accepted his role in the plan without hesitation.

With one more declarative point at the vod’ikase across the hall, Colt swung out and leveled his M5. He could at least take out the patrol with Grievous. That would be a help.

He barely got his first volley of shots off when someone grabbed him. By the neck. 

And Asajj Ventress threw him across the hallway. Somewhere, his helmet clattered to the duracrete floor and he saw stars.

_ Sithdamned karking Sith. _

Colt blinked the bring spots out of his vision, but he couldn’t break her hold. It didn’t work like that. There was nothing to break, only empty space and a durasteel hold. Colt thrashed, trying to get his hands on his blaster.

Shaak would kick her shebs. 

He’d only be sorry he wasn’t there to watch it happen.

The world went red as she lit her saber, but Colt’s vision was already desaturating as his chest burned.

Like every vod, Colt had imagined noble last words. He did not anticipate these.

_ Did she just karking kiss me? _

Then everything went dark.

“Colt?”

His attempt at ‘yes, sir?’ came out a hoarse little bark in the blackness. That was when Colt realized his eyes were closed. Opening them was a lot of effort, and he was willing to say more than it was worth until he saw Shaak hovering over him.

When he could finally get his vision to clear, Colt saw his General smiling at him.  _ Beaming at him.  _

They had been under attack. She should be somewhere leading the men. So should he.

Colt went to get his arms against the bedding to leverage himself up when his left side shot through with fire. The sound he made was not one that belonged to a brave CC.

“Colt no, don’t,” Shaak rested a hand on his chest.

Her hand was on his skin. He was out of his shell. Not even in his blacks. Well, kark. “Sir.”

He tried to get himself sitting up, grimacing as the pain returned. Less debilitating now that it wasn’t a total surprise, but not very good.

“Pots! He’s awake!” Shaak called out, and Colt stilled. He’d never heard her raise her voice.

He tried to swallow, make words come out. “Pots...?”

“Here, sir.” The medic put a none-too-gentle hand on his right shoulder and that was about all the force it took to knock Colt flat again with a grunt. “There enough brave di’kuts in here. I don’t need to spend any more time piecing you back together.”

Maybe Colt didn’t need to argue. There was a poke and then a pinch. He didn’t need meds. He needed to get out of the bed and figure out what was going on. But it was already too late for that. He felt the boneless warmth run through him, his eyes heavy. No, he wasn’t sleepy, that was karking Pots. Whatever it was he’d been given, it was strong. Colt growled at his head medic, hitting the button to incline the head of the bed.

“Kark you too, sir.” Pots rolled his eyes, sticking a straw in a cup of water and holding it out to Colt. “I gave you the good drugs.”

_ Watch your language in front of the General. _ Colt wasn’t sure if his glare worked while he was desperately sipping through a bendy-straw, but he was willing to try. 

It must have worked. Once the cup was drained, Pots wandered away to yell at some other injured trooper.

Swallowing hurt. Now that he was thinking about it, a lot of him hurt. Probably would hurt like all hells without Pots’ hypo. Colt brought his right hand up to check his throat. Sore, but not terrible.

“Better?” Shaak had one hand resting on the bedding beside his head. He shifted awkwardly to make her a place to sit.

“Yes, sir.” The words came out this time, but hardly more than a rough whisper.

After a long pause, Shaak perched on the edge of the hospital bed. “Do you remember what happened?”

Colt nodded. He remembered, not that it was a very good story. “Was going to shoot Grievous. Ventress kicked my shebs.” He shifted trying to account for all the aches and pains and being alive through the fog of the drugs. He remembered the battle like he’d seen it happen to someone else, or someone had told him the story. “Ventress kissed me?”

“I wondered if you remembered that part.” Her eyes dropped to the holopad in her hands.

Colt laughed, which only came out a little wheeze and hurt like osik. “That really happened?”

“Caught on the security footage.” Shaak held up the ‘pad. “Along with the rest of it.”

He didn’t remember the rest of it. “Is everyone-- Were we--?”

“Yes, and yes.” She rested a hand on his shoulder. His bare skin. That was nice, and he very nearly said so, which would have been very dumb. She should stop doing that. There was probably a regulation. He was so focused on her touch, he needed to drag his attention back to her answer. “The attacks were repelled. The cadets and the Template are secure. Unfortunately, there were injuries and some were seriously wounded.” Shaak gave his good shoulder a little squeeze. “I’m sorry there was not more we could do.”

Colt groaned. “That’s my line.” 

Shaak’s eyes widened. 

He hadn’t meant to say that outloud. “Sorry sir. Mean… shoulda had a better plan.” 

“What you should have had was reinforcements.” Her hand left his shoulder to comb through his hair. Which was probably disgusting. All of him needed a shower and a change of clothes. He didn’t say that though, because she was petting him like a tooka and it felt good. “You’re lucky you had the cadets.”

“Cadets?” He’d had a couple hundred meters between him and the cadets. Time for Cody and Rex to--

Shaak held up the ‘pad, and Colt fumbled to take it from her. After she patiently and politely allowed him a few tries, he gave up and let her angle it for him to watch. 

Watch Ventress get the drop on him like he was a karking shiny, fling him into a support beam like a doll, and then dangle him by the neck in front of her like it was feeding time at the Sarlaac pit.

And then, yeah, she really did kiss him. Easily the weirdest thing that’d ever happened in his life. “Huh.”

Right as she put her lightsaber to his chestplate.

Before she could put it right  _ through  _ his chestplate, Wrecker threw himself into the frame with a shoulder-tackle that belonged on a galaxy-class murderball team, and someone - Crosshair - shot the electricals out in the hallway. 

Colt looked at Shaak. “Then what?”

A hint of fangs peeked out and she smiled. “Tech sliced the electro-lock on the nearest maintenance hatch, and the three of them got you to Medical before that got worse.” Shaak gestured to the bacta patch that covered the whole of the left of his chest. 

So that was why his left side was useless. “Huh.”

“That was reckless of them.” Shaak’s hand cupped his cheek and Colt brought himself out of his stupor to enjoy it. “But I am very glad they were there.”

“Me too.” It was practically a croak. He’d blame it on the strangling. “Can-- can you send the footage to my ‘pad?”

Shaak laughed, but thankfully didn’t drop her hand. “You want to study it?”

“Gonna post that kiss in CC chat.” Colt might be loopy from the pain meds, but it was too impossible not to share. “No one’s gonna believe my first nat-born kiss was karking Ventress without it.”

“Maybe,” Shaak said, leaning closer. “We could give you something more interesting to tell them about instead.” She was smiling at him with a hint of fangs, eyes full of mischief.

Colt was going to ask what that was, but his General was kissing him. On the lips. 

And Colt really really wanted this to be actually happening and not some medical hallucination.

Yes, he was medded out of his mind and probably smelled like a bantha, but if this was going to happen once in his genetically-engineered life, he was going to karking enjoy it.

He kissed her back as best he could until Shaak pulled back a breath and smiled at him like he’d been the one to save the day, and Colt really wanted the two of them to be in this moment forever.

“That is… more interesting, sir.” He smiled crookedly, half-chem stupid, half-lovestruck. 

_ If that didn't happen and it's just the good meds, no one tell me. _

“I should hope so.” Shaak stroked his cheek once more and stood. “Rest and we can debrief later.”

Colt laughed, even though he knew she didn’t mean it like that. Unless she meant it like that, and then he knew he was dreaming.

“Yes, sir.” 

*

“Defend the hangar, right?” Web looked around the table at his Rancor brothers. He would have been happy to talk about the weather, but they all knew Web had the best stories. When they asked, he delivered. It was the least he could do for his brothers who had enjoyed far less entertaining positions. “The General leads us down there, and we’re done, cleared ‘em out to where a few brothers with eyes like shriek-hawks were picking them off. But that wasn’t enough.”

Web looked down the row to where his CO looked more interested in his midday meal than the story. Trib was parked next to him as usual. Maybe Blitz was bored, or maybe he knew where the story was going. Web knew having the Commander in earshot was going to add a certain flare to the story.

“But that’s only one hangar. One dome. Still have all the others to defend.”

The brothers all nodded, like they didn’t know how the story ended, even if the battle had been the subject of every other conversation for days.

“Commander Blitz strides over, points at me, Hammer, and Trib. ‘You three with me,’ he says, and we all  _ Yes, sir _ because when your Commander says something like that  _ like that _ , there’s nothing else to say.” Web looks at the others for confirmation, and there’s no argument because there isn’t one. Most of them were half-sure Blitz’s wound too-tight on a normal day, forget in the middle of a battle on their own doorstep. 

The Commander in question is glaring at his tray, and Web knows that even if Blitz wants to pretend he’s as buttoned up, no-osik as Commander Colt, Blitz was very quietly more jare’la than Havoc.

“I think we’re double-timing it to reinforce another squad, but we get out to the footbridge and Blitz stops and points. I’m thinking, ‘yeah, vod, I see that karking giant death machine about to bust a hole in a dome waaaaay the karking hells over there’ but Trib, he’s the nice one. Doesn’t say a thing, drops to one knee and lines that sucker up from half an ocean away and nails it with one PLX-1 shot.” A widespread sound of appreciation for Trib, and for a good shot. Web glancing down the table and Trib is blushing but Blitz is grinning like the mad man that he is.

“Trib, right? Acts like he does this all day, but me and Hammer are just there to watch his six so he can pick ‘em off like that.” Web hates telling stories about himself. It’s so much less fun. He didn’t get to sink his teeth in the same way. “So, Blitz is looking at Trib like he’s just called Nala Se a long-necked tube juggler to her face, and you know what Trib says?”

Web looks down the row, and it’s plain to anyone with karking eyes that Blitz is watching Trib like he’s hung star in the galaxy just for him.

Trib grins. “I just told him to save that look for when I hit one of the tough shots.”

*

The meds did a pretty good job of knocking Colt out. If he didn’t know better, he’d think Pots was giving him a little extra so he wouldn’t get out of his bed. 

As he woke up, Colt felt too warm and his breathing was difficult.

Or, he could chalk that up to the vod’ika asleep on his chest.

“I came to get him, but you two looked comfortable.” 99 was still moving slow but the leg had healed. The shot to the shoulder and back had needed a lot of bacta, but not a tank. Even Pots wasn’t sure he could have swung that level of deniability with the longnecks.

“Is he…?” Colt shifted cautiously, for both his sake and Ottoo’s. “He’s not hurt, is he?”

“He’s fine.” 99 grinned at him. “You should ask your Jedi for that story, not me.”

_ His Jedi _ was a whole different topic. He was pretty sure she’d actually kissed him. As fuzzy as the meds had made him, Colt hadn’t had any other hallucinations. She’d visited him a few times, bringing a datapad and his comms unit, little errands she absolutely didn’t need to do herself. 

If Shaak was uncomfortable about the kiss, she hadn’t let on. If Shaak  _ wasn’t _ uncomfortable about the kiss, she hadn’t said that either. Not that his hours spent lying in bed under Pots’ watchful glare had allowed him to dwell or anything of the sort. 

Those thoughts did not explain why a first cycle cadet was asleep on him.

“I’m dead.” Ottoo muttered against Colt’s chest.

“What?” Colt forgot about both his comfort and Ottoo’s. He did the best he could to check the little vod’ika over while glaring at 99.

“Udessii, Buir.” 99 would have cackled if his lung wasn’t still healing. 

“I’m not dead yet.” Ottoo flashed Colt a sweet smile. “That happens later.”

The Commander could only flap the arm on his good side in general frustration. 

99 rolled his eyes at the theatrics, like Colt was an over-excitable cadet. “Your General can’t sneak the vod’ika off the planet if he’s still Kamino-teh property.”

“So, I’m going to die in the battle,” Ottoo agreed cheerfully. “Then Commander Cody is going to hide me and carry me off. That’s why I have to stay in here with you and 99.”

His General was brilliant. The next time Colt saw Shaak, he was going to be the one kissing her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The notes and fix-it list was three pages long, and these two chapters resolve all but one note. I promise the one other ouchie (that I know of) is taken care next. 
> 
> This resolves the immediate issues with the Battle of Kamino, but there are more threads to tie.
> 
> And a kiss.


End file.
